Between good sense and good taste there is the difference between
cause and effect.
[Fr., Entre le bon sens et le bon gout il y a la difference de la
cause a son effet.]
- Les Caracteres (XII) [Sense]

Physiognomy is not a guide that has been given us by which to
judge of the character of men: it may only serve us for
conjecture.
[Fr., La physionomie n'est pas une regle qui nous soit donnee
pour juger des hommes; elle nous peut servir de conjecture.]
- Les Caracteres (XII) [Character]

The same principle leads us to neglect a man of merit that
induces us to admire a fool.
[Fr., Du meme fonds dont on neglige un homme de merite l'on sait
encore admirer un sot.]
- Les Caracteres (XII) [Merit]

The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God
is not, discloses to me His existence.
[Fr., L'impossibilite ou je suis de prouver que Dieu n'est pas,
me decouvre son existence.]
- Les Caracteres (XVI) [God]

Eloquence may be found in conversations and in all kinds of
writings; it is rarely found when looked for, and sometimes
discovered where it is least expected.
- The Characters (ch. I, 55) [Eloquence]

Profane eloquence is transfered from the bar, where Le Maitre,
Pucelle, and Fourcroy formerly practised it, and where it has
become obsolete, to the Pulpit, where it is out of place.
- The Characters (ch. XVI, 2) [Eloquence]

A man of moderate Understanding, thinks he writes divinely: A
man of good Understanding, thinks he writes reasonably.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. I) [Authorship]

The highest reach of a news-writer is an empty Reasoning on
Policy, and vain Conjectures on the public Management.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. I) [Journalism]

The News-writer lies down at Night in great Tranquility, upon a
piece of News which corrupts before Morning, and which he is
obliged to throw away as soon as he awakes.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. I) [Journalism]

Modesty is to merit, what shade is to figures in a picture; it
gives it strength and makes it stand out.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. II, sec. 17) [Modesty]

He must be a dull Fellow indeed, whom neither Love, Malice, nor
Necessity, can inspire with Wit.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. IV) [Wit]

Love begins with love.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. IV) [Love]

Time, which strengthens Friendship, weakens Love.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. IV) [Time]

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we
laugh at all.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. IV) [Laughter]

In Friendship we only see those faults which may be prejudicial
to our friends. In love we see no faults but those by which we
suffer ourselves.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. V) [Friendship]

Love and friendship exclude each other.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. V) [Friendship]

One faithful Friend is enough for a man's self, 'tis much to meet
with such an one, yet we can't have too many for the sake of
others.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. V) [Friends]

Pure friendship is something which men of an inferior intellect
can never taste.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. V) [Friendship]

When a man puts on a Character he is a stranger to, there's as
much difference between what he appears, and what he is really in
himself, as there is between a VIzor and a Face.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. XI) [Hypocrisy]

Languages are no more than the keys of Sciences. He who despises
one, slights the other.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. XII) [Linguists]

A man starts upon a sudden, takes Pen, Ink, and Paper, and
without ever having had a thought of it before, resolves within
himself he will write a Book; he has no Talent at Writing, but he
wants fifty Guineas.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. XV) [Authorship]

'Twas not an Age ago since most of our Books were nothing but
Collections of Latin Quotations; there was not above a line or
two of French in a Page.
- The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
(ch. XV, Of the Pulpit) [Quotations]